The National People’s Party-led alliance government in Meghalaya has said it would crack down on illegal coal mining as constituent partner Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the State Home Minister’s resignation for the death of six workers in a 180-ft coal pit on January 21.

Meghalaya Home Minister Lakhmen Rymbui represents the regional United Democratic Party.

“We do not know who is indulging in illegal coal mining in East Jaintia Hills district. I am made to understand that the place where the illegal activity took place is far away from the villages,” Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said in Shillong on Monday.

Six miners, all from Assam, died after a crane collapsed into the pit in a forest named Sorkari in East Jaintia Hills district on January 21. The site is not far from Ksan, where at least 15 miners drowned in December, 2018.

Insisting that action was being taken against illegal rat-hole coal mining, banned by the National Green Tribunal since April 2014, Mr. Tynsong said a few people have been picked up in connection with the mine mishap.

The Meghalaya government has been facing flak from the Opposition Congress and ally BJP for failing to stop illegal mining and transportation of coal.

While demanding Mr. Rymbui’s resignation, the BJP has been seeking an independent probe into cases of illegal mining activities.